News & Blogs

International Tribunal Demands GM Maize Ban in Mexico

Calls on UN bodies to take action

The Mexican Chapter of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal has called on the Mexican government to ban the planting of genetically modified (GM) maize in the country. The decision cited the importance of maize as one of three principal staple crops globally, which millions depend on. The Tribunal, which considered evidence gathered over three years from over 1000 organizations on this and other issues, also highlighted the importance of Mexico as the centre of origin of maize globally.

Will Unicorns Save us from Climate Change? (BECCS won’t.)

IPCC’s latest recommendations based on dangerous “magical thinking”: observers
OCT 31, COPENHAGEN — It’s hallowe’en at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 40th plenary session, but as the world’s premiere climate science body releases its latest report, observers are wondering if the planet has been played a very nasty trick indeed. The IPCC appears to have embraced carbon geoengineering in the form of CCS and BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage), which it now claims can achieve “net zero emissions” somewhere in the second half of the century. But critics are calling the move a case of dangerous “magical thinking”. 

Video Animation Explores Risks of Treating Life as a Machine

Synthetic Biology Explained
MONTREAL, 29 Oct. 2014–On the eve of the largest annual gathering of synthetic biologists in the world, ETC Group and the Bioeconomies Media Project are launching a new animated explanation of the workings of this emerging “SynBio” industry, often dubbed extreme genetic engineering. Thousands of scientists, students and vendors will converge at the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Jamboree in Boston to share the latest advancements in what has become a multi billion dollar industry based on the industrialization of life at the molecular level.
 

Regular la biología sintética YA: 194 países

La irresponsabilidad de esa industria tiene los días contados

El Convenio sobre Diversidad Biológica (CDB) de Naciones Unidas urgió a los Estados parte a regular la biología sintética, una nueva forma de ingeniería genética extrema. La decisión histórica se tomó después de 10 días de difíciles negociaciones entre los países en desarrollo y un pequeño grupo de países ricos que promueven el desarrollo de la biología sintética.

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Recent Blogs

Matrix climática

Matrix climática
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Silvia Ribeiro *

Durante las negociaciones de Naciones Unidas sobre cambio climático en Copenhague, Dinamarca, en diciembre pasado, la delegación de Bolivia comparó lo que allí sucedía con la película Matrix. Agregó que los únicos que tomaban la pastilla roja (que en la película permite ver la realidad como es) eran los que marchaban protestando por las calles de Copenhague. Es una de las imágenes más atinadas que he escuchado.

Nuevo clima en Copenhague

Nuevo clima en Copenhague
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Silvia Ribeiro*

Copenhague, 18 de diciembre -Mientras escribo esta nota, no se sabe si habrá un nuevo acuerdo global sobre el cambio climático en la conferencia de Naciones Unidas que se realiza del 7 al 18 de diciembre. Pero en todos los escenarios de las negociaciones en curso, falla lo principal: ninguno va a modificar las causas del cambio climático, que implicaría cambiar radicalmente el modelo industrial de producción y consumo.

Reclaim Power day at the UN ... and NGOs get kicked out

Reclaim Power day at the UN ... and NGOs get kicked out
Inglés

Today was "Reclaim Power" day, a collaborative adventure with activists from Climate Justice Now and Climate Justice Action that had been many months (years?) in the making.   There were demonstrators from the outside -- the thousands of activists who have no accreditation to get into the Bella Centre where the talks are being held, and those who had been working the process inside -- lobbying, analyzing, holding press conferences and such. The point was to hold a people's assembly on climate change when talks failed to deliver.   And they are failing to deliver big time.

Is technology transfer for Northern businesses or Southern countries?

Is technology transfer for Northern businesses or Southern countries?
Inglés

I am still in the Bella Centre, still tracking technology negotiations.  That means I have a magical "secondary pass" unlike thousands of other NGOs who cannot get into the building today. Technology is supposed to be the "easy issue", on which there will possibly be an agreement, evoked by both the Danish Presidency and the UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer, as the most rapidly progressing item.

After the demo ... and tangling with the Royal Society

After the demo ... and tangling with the Royal Society
Inglés

So much has happened in the past three days it is has been impossible to blog.  We have been trying to lobby for precaution and assessment on technology, trying to talk to the press about our issues, attending side events, organizing our own workshops, meeting old and new friends and allies and basically working from early morning until late at night, like virtually everyone else here.

Leaving for Copenhagen - yikes

Leaving for Copenhagen - yikes
Inglés

It is the mad dash for Copenhagen.

I am leaving Montreal for the international summit tomorrow although the conference actually got underway today.  In between urgent emails over the weekend I found the time to take my ten year old daughter and two of her friends to see A Christmas Carol, a Geordie Theatre production of the Dickens classic.   The play was great but it was hard to keep my mind off what was going on in Copenhagen -- plus Scrooge kept reminding me of Stephen Harper.

Cerdos, maíz y resistencia

Cerdos, maíz y resistencia
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Silvia Ribeiro*

En Chichicuautla, muy cerca de las porquerías de Granjas Carroll –incubadores de la influenza porcina–, la gente resiste. Resisten la contaminación brutal de tierras, aguas, aire y las enfermedades que les provoca esta carnívora trasnacional, propiedad de Smithfield, la empresa porcícola más grande del globo. Resisten también la represión que contra ellos ejercen los gobiernos estatales en acuerdo con las empresas.

Ilegal e inmoral, pero no impune

Ilegal e inmoral, pero no impune
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Silvia Ribeiro*

Contra viento y marea, en medio de innumerables críticas e irregularidades, el gobierno aprobó hasta el 27 de octubre, 22 siembras "experimentales" de maíz transgénico a favor de las trasnacionales Monsanto, Dow Agrosciences y Pioneer Hi Bred (esta última, propiedad de DuPont).

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Inglés